U.S. health officials have released a draft of federal guidelines pertaining to circumcision, saying medical evidence supports the procedure and health insurers should pay for it. These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision, a brief medical procedure that involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say the procedure can lower a male's risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer, and even urinary tract infections.

The guidelines have been published in the Federal Register[2] and, through January 16, 2015, the CDC will receive public comment before finalizing them.

Among other pieces of information, the CDC says there is now strong evidence that male circumcision can cut a man's risk of getting HIV from an infected female partner by 50 to 60 percent; reduce their risk of genital herpes and certain strains of human papillomavirus by 30 percent or more; and lower the risk of urinary tract infections during infancy, and cancer of the penis in adulthood.